Levels of natriuretic peptides such as B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N terminal-pro BNP (NT-proBNP) have been shown to be diagnostic of cardiovascular disease (Clerico and Emdin, Clin. Chem. 50:33-50 (2004)). However, it is known and accepted in the field that certain subjects have levels of natriuretic peptide that are lower than expected relative to a “normal” subject for the same level of disease. The exact mechanism for this phenomenon is not known. These subjects include people with impaired renal function (Anwaruddin et al., J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 47(1):91-7 (2006); McCullough et al., Am. J. Kidney Dis. 41(3):571-9 (2003)), and those who are overweight (Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25-29) or obese (BMI≥30) (Krauser et al., Am. Heart J. 149(4):744-50 (2005); McCord et al., Arch. Intern. Med. 164(20):2247-52 (2004)).